Dramatic and Musical

Free Lance, Volume VI, Issue 289, 13 January 1906, Page 14

Dramatic and Musical

By Footlight

MESSRS. Fuller and Sons probably know a good combination when they see it, and Mr. Harry Rickards' Company, under their management, at the Theatre Royal, is a good combination. Ine "house" was packed to standing point ay 8 o'clock on the opening night. Everybody had gone along to see Le Roy, Talma, and Bosco, the astounding magicians, who bring the audience through a series of new magical sensations entirely new, and mixed with high-art comedy that is as new as the show iteelf . • • • Leroy is a slight gentleman, who is always on the quick run. Talma is a graceful lady, of exceptional ability as a conjurer. Bosco, the rotund and bald-headed American, is a comedian with a highly-developed sense of humour and possessing the art of conjuring in. its highest form. Th© comedian lends his crush opera hat — closed — to Leroy. Leroy takes a few rabbits out of it for a start, and (hands it to the others, who keep on stocking a farmyard from it. Bosoo gets rabbits out of anything, and wrenches one rabbit into two or three with humorous results. # # It is in the amazing cabinet feats the trio are at their weirdest. The momentary veiling of a couple of cabinets previously shown empty, and raised a great height from the floor, is sufficient time for the substitution of Lerov for Bosco, or Talma for Leroy, or the devil, or anybody else. It is the rush wrUh whdcb these feats are done that leaves the audience too breathless for instant applause. • » • As for making seven handkerchiefs out of the air, and multiplying them in your own view to seventy; well, it is simple. Bosco decapitates a couple of ducks of different colours, and the ducks are seen later each wearing the other's head!, and quacking vigorously. The setting of this splendid act is perfect, and the trio are pre-eminent. Talma is the cleanest hand at palming coins I have seen. Her manipulation of numberless half-crowns is a picture, and her patter full of point and humour. Anyhow, the show is quite indescribable, and you'd better see it for yourself. It is vtoo fast and furious for a mere written description. • « • Victor Kelly came on, and had very great difficulty in getting off. You think Victor is a mere song and dance artist, of laugh-raii\ng proclivities until he takes his coat off and shows his muscular developments. His acrobatics are quite unique. One simple little thing he does. Agnes comes on, and, in reply to his query, says 6he is "sweet sixteen." Victor falls back stiff — standing an his head 1 and settling down into flat stark death. It raised roars of laughter. • • • Our little friend, Fanny Powers, is with the show, and' has grown bigger and prettier if possible. Decidedly, she is a more finished mimic, and her imitations, particularly of May Moore Ihiprez and Irene Franiklin, were of a Tery high standard. Mr. Wallace Ascot sang tenor songs, and Miss JNioa Leete also sang. Uproarious applause greeted the re-aupearancie of the Gibson Girls, who aleserve it. The Collier Sisters sang and) danced nicely, <3eorge Bently was vocally comic, and there were biograph pictures. • • • The Knight-Jeffries Company, at the Opera House, played the charming "Monsieur Beauoaire" for four nights, to splendid audiences. There is notlhing that Mr. Knight does in which he is more at home than in the part of the dashing, gallant Frenchman, and, although Beaueaire is a hero tlhroughout at the expense of many lampooned Englishmen, the sympathy of the audience is with the royal 1 person who is lying perdu under the guise of barber and card-player. Throughout there is a vivacious charm about the character that enchains the attention and enlists sympathy. • • • As Lady Mary Carlyle, Miss Maud Jeffries is well oast, and the various Enelish gientlemen who are food for the rapier of Monsieur sufficiently exhibit the character of bounders to satisfy the demands of public taste. The , fine setting in "Beauoaire," and th© ex-

tremely elaborate costumes, and the old-time society glitter, are big circumstances in the production. • * * T!he double bill put on by the Knigh-t-J effries Company on Wednesday night included the exquisitely-writ ten "Comedy v. Tragedy" and! "Davy Garrick." In the first, Mr. Knight did not appear, and in the second Mies Jeffries was absent. "Comedy v. Tragedy" gives Miss Jeffries quite exceptional opportunities to play up to her reputation, and as Clarice the actress, who has permitted the Duo D'Orleans an interview in, order that her husband may hear and challenge him to fight, she pleases' vastly. • • • Clarice entertains her guests with improvised comedy while the clash ot swords between the prince and her axis band is heard in the garden. The guests applaud. A shout is heard from her fighting husband. She has given the key of the windows to a guest, and begs for it and implores the guests to stop the fight. They applaud with vigour. Here is the perfection of tragic acting. Hurrah! It is an

exquisite bib of workmanship. The fact that Clarice's husband triumphs, and returns to the guests, is the reason why the guests are still permitted to believe the tragedy of the actress is simulated. Mr. Harry Plimmer, as Clarice's husband, gives a very fin© rendering of the part, while Mr. Frank Sterling as the Due D'Orleans is most happy.

There is a great charm and a deep human interest in "Davy Garrick," in which Mr. Julius Knight is seen absolutely at his best. This new version of , "David Garrick" is particularly bright 3 and the alternating bathos and pathos is delightful. It gives Mr. Knight a rare opportunity for acting, for declamation, for tender speeches, andl for the romantic in his art. At one of Mr. Knight's exits the audience applauded him as he has not been applauded before. He quite roused the enthusiasm of the house. • ♦ •

Then, too, that swegt play&r, Miss TJnie Russell, gets a rare chance to sx ow the high quality of her art. As the daughter of a matter-of-fact merchant, whose vision, is bounded by

business and! barter, she, an artiste at heart, loves the gallant Drury Lane celebrity. Garrick, unaware of the identity of a girl he has secretly loved, accepts the merchant's invitation to dine and to heal the infatuation of the girl. He comes face to face, with his inamorata, but, having made a compact, proceeds by similated horse-play and drunkenness to cure her. The end — well, the merchant is wan to' the actor's side, and so 'is' the girl. • „ • The points in "Davy Garrick" are very viv.d, and there is that in it which plays upon the various emotions, and makes the hot lump rise in the throat that has a second before been palpitating with laughter. Altogether, the double bill is the company's very best. *• , ♦ Qzerny, the graceful magician, the charm of whose show lies largely in its brightness, closed a successful season at His Majesty's on Monday." Czernyi is not so notable for the novelty of his work as the novel way in which he presents it, the^picturesque surroundings, and the interesting nature of the conjurer's monologue. The gentleman with the clear-cut- features aaid polished) appearance gives distinction to an entertainment that deoends for its success on tha perfection of the devices employed, and it is a show that will succeed wherever it goes for these reasons. 1 i